This flexibility permits the screening of virtually any peptide of interest with enough affinity for the MHC allele that it is loaded onto. This allows for a peptide exchange when the UV irradiation is done in the presence of the peptide of interest (which is not UV-labile). How does ultraviolet peptide exchange work?įlex-T™ is made of MHC monomers loaded with a peptide that can be degraded by the use of a UV light source.
It has the unique property of allowing the loading of peptides of interest into the binding site of the MHC groove, by using ultraviolet (UV) light labile, exchangeable peptides. What is a Flex-T™?įlex-T™ is BioLegend's technology to study antigen-specific T cells through their TCRs.
However, by making a tetramer through a fluorescently labeled streptavidin conjugate, the complex has greater avidity to the T cell and maintains more stable binding by interacting with several TCRs, making it useful for flow cytometry detection of antigen specific T cells. Soluble, monomeric MHC molecules bind very weakly to the TCR. MHC molecules present a peptide to antigen-specific T cells that recognize this peptide. The T-cell mediated immune response is defined by the interaction between antigen presenting cells and T cells, through the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) and the T cell receptor (TCR). What are MHC tetramers and what can you do with them?